Apparatus for barbecuing food

ABSTRACT

Chicken halves are placed on a continuously moving horizontal conveyor and conveyed first through a charcoal searing station that sears the bottom side of the product, then through a microwave section where the cooking takes place in an atmosphere of charcoal smoke from the charcoal fire, then through an infrared heating section for forming a crust and browning the top surface thereof.

United States Patent Keller 1 Mar. 7, 1972 [54] APPARATUS FOR BARBECUINGF001) [72] Inventor: Ernest Keller, Chicago, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Louis Jutzi, Palos Park, 111.

[22] Filed: May 11, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 36,137

[52] US. CL ..99/339, 99/107, 99/386, 99/443, 99/446, 99/DIG. 14 [51Int. Cl. 47j 37/00 [58] Field 01 Search ..99/l07, DIG. 14, 339, 386,99/400, 446, 443

[56] Rel'erences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,997,566 8/1961 Pierce etal. ..99/DIG. 14 3,321,314 5/1967 Jeppson ..99/386 X 3,427,171 2/1969Jeppson ..99/386 X 3,479,188 11/1969 Thelen ..99l339 X FOREIGN PATENTSOR APPLICATIONS 1,197,014 7/1970 Great Britain ..99/339 PrimaryExaminer-Billy J. Wilhite Anamey-Spector & Alster [57] ABSTRACT Chickenhalves are placed on a continuously moving horizontal conveyor andconveyed first through a charcoal searing station that sears the bottomside of the product, then through a microwave section where the cookingtakes place in an atmosphere of charcoal smoke from the charcoal fire,then through an infrared heating section for forming a crust andbrowning the top surface thereof.

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APPARATUS FOR BARBECUING FOOD This invention relates to a machine forbarbecueing food products. Chicken halves, by way of example, are laidon bars of a horizontally moving conveyor, with the bone side facingdownwardly, and are moved horizontally, first through a charcoal firethat sears the bone side of the product, then through a microwaveheating station where their cooking is substantially completed, thenthrough an infrared heating station to crust and brown the top surfacein completion of the cooking process. During almost all of this time,the product is in an atmosphere of the vapors from the charcoalcombustion chamber, for imparting a smoke flavor to the product.

It is an object of this invention to provide an apparatus of the abovecharacter that can operate in a continuous manner on the conveyorprinciple to provide a large output of uniformly consistent pieces. Itis a further object to provide an apparatus that is economical ofconstruction and simple in operation consistent with a high output.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present inventionwill be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing from a part thereof.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an automatic charcoal barbecue apparatusembodying the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the apparatus of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a section taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a section taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary enlargement of a portion of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 is an enlargement of another portion of FIG. 2.

In the present description the meat product being barbecued is chicken,which may be in the form of chicken halves or other parts of thechicken. The machine, however, is equally capable of barbecueing otherproducts, for instance pork ribs, steaks, chops, or the like.

Reference may now be had more particularly to the drawings wherein likereference numerals designate like parts throughout.

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the general layout of the equipment of thepresent invention. The machine comprises a charcoal heating section 1that performs the first stage of the cooking operation, a microwavesection 3 that performs the second stage of the cooking action, and aninfrared heating section 5 that performs the third stage of the cookingoperation. An endless conveyor 7 extends through the three sections andcarries the product successively from the input side 9 to the outputside 11. A servicing booth 13 is provided for servicing of the charcoalfires. Fumes and light ash and the like are exhausted through an exhaustfan feed outlet 15. A power-controlled cabinet 17 controls a microwavegenerator 19 that supplies energy to a microwave cavity.

The conveyor 7 extends through the three sections or stations 1,3, and5, as may be seen from FIG. 2. In one particular embodiment, the beltlength in the charcoal section was 8 we feet, in the microwave section12 feet, and in the infrared section 4 feet. This means that when thebelt is in continuous motion the food product thereon will be in thecharcoal section approximately 35 percent of the cooking time, in themicrowave section approximately 49 percent of the time, and in theinfrared section approximately 16 percent of the time.

The charcoal heating section comprises four identical slidable open-topfireboxes on drawers 23, each of which is individually movablehorizontally from its cooking position to its alternate position, as isillustrated in FIG. 3. Each drawer has a built-in electrical starter forstarting the burning of the charcoal via an electrical starter cable 25.After the charcoal has been ignited, the drawer is shifted back intoposition to constitute part of the fireboxes of the cooker. Theservicing booth 13 constitutes a housing for catching the exhaust,including fly ashes and the like that escape during starting of thecharcoal fire in one of the fireboxes, as well as the ash that isdisturbed when additional charcoal is added to the burning charcoal inone of the fireboxes. A water-sprinkling head 27 is provided for firesafety. The servicing booth includes enough space also for storage ofbags of charcoal 14.

The microwave section 3 includes a microwave guide 29 that extends fromthe generator 19 to a microwave cavity or chamber 31. The chamber 31includes lower and upper attenuation chambers 33-35. The conveyor 17extends lengthwise through the lower attenuation chamber. Flue gasesfrom the charcoal heating section pass through a conduit 30 into themicrowave cavity 31, filling that cavity and imparting a charcoal flavorto the food product therein on the conveyor 7. The charcoal vapors passthrough openings in the top of the microwave cavity 31 and flow into anupper flue 37, as indicated by the arrows 38, and out through an exhauststack 39.

Drip pans 41, 43, FIG. 4, also 67, FIG. 7, catch the fat drippings fromthe cooking meat product. These pans may be slid from the unit by firstopening an outer access door 45 that is provided with suitableelectrical interlocks to turn off the microwave generator when that dooris opened and then opening the inner access door 47. This inner accessdoor 47 is provided with an electrostatic seal to prevent microwavepower leakage from the microwave cavity during cooking operation in fullcompliance with safety regulations.

The infrared heating section 5 includes infrared heating ele ments 55above the product that is moving through the section. One or moreslidable pans 57 extend under the top metal conveyor grill bars 7awithin that section to catch the drippings from the food product. Accessto the drawers may be had through an access door 59.

A variable speed motor drive 61 is mounted immediately below the heatingchamber of the infrared heating section 5, for driving the conveyor 7.

The mechanical connection between the charcoal heating section and themicrowave section is such that charcoal fumes can flow between the twosections, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 5. The conduit 30 constitutes anattenuation chamber (FIG. 2), which connects the charcoal heatingsection 1 with the microwave cavity of the microwave section. A similarconduit 30a, which also constitutes an attenuation chamber for themicrowaves, extends from chamber 31 to the section 5. A drip pan 67immediately below the conveyor catches the dripping from the foodproducts. Charcoal fumes travel as indicated by the arrows 69 in FIG. 5into the chamber 65 to create a charcoal smoke atmosphere therein.

Chicken halves are laid on the conveyor at the input side thereof. Theyare laid close to one another. They pass through the charcoal heatingsection rather quickly, but remain therein long enough to sear thebottom sides thereof, but not long enough to cause any appreciable fatdripping. Dripping of fat at this stage is objectionable because fallinginto the charcoal fire they not only produce an objectionable smoke orcarbon coating at the bottom of the chicken but also change the heatregulation. The product then moves into the microwave section 3 whereinternal cooking takes place. A large percentage of the charcoal vaporsfrom the open fire continue to flow below the conveyor grill bars intothe microwave section and slowly dissipate through whatever openings arepresent between the chicken halves and of course some are absorbed bythe product itself. Moving continuously, the chicken halves move throughthe microwave section into the infrared section. The main purpose ofwhich is to crust and brown the top surface of the chicken halves incompletion of the cooking process. This produces a beautiful broiledappearance for maximum eye appeal.

While the heat control in the first stage, that is the charcoal stage,is not too critical, a fair amount of regulation is obtained with thepresent firebox arrangement. The total firebox area is divided into fourcompartments or drawers which are individually movable at to thedirection of movement of the conveyor, into the servicing booth 13 forservicing of the fire. The fire may be started for the daily run firstin fireboxes l and 3. After a delay the tire is started also in boxes 2and 4. Thus the replenishing of these fires is also staggered providinga fairly level overall heat maintenance. The servicing booth 13 servesto prevent contamination of the cooking unit during servicing of thefires.

In the infrared heating section, the electrical elements are mounted toapply concentrated heat directly above the product. Suitable bafl'leplates are used to reflect infrared heat rays onto the product.

Access doors are provided on the cooking unit for easy removal of baffleplates for cleaning when necessary. If desired, fire protection may beobtained by providing carbon dioxide units with automatic release toflood all of the cooking compartments, microwave cavity and upper fluespaces.

In compliance with the requirement of the patent statutes, there hashere been shown and described a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention. The invention is, however, not limited to the preciseembodiment herein shown. What are considered new and desired to besecured by Letters Patent are the following claims.

lclaim:

1. Apparatus for cooking meat which comprises an endless metallicconveyor carrying meat through successive adjacent stations one of whichis a charcoal cooking station, another of which is a microwave cookingstation, and another of which is an infrared cooking station.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein hot gases from the charcoalcooking station are conveyed to the microwave cooking station to flavorthe meat being cooked at that station.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the charcoal section includesa number of separately movable charcoal buming compartments that can beseparately moved from their cooking position to a stoking position awayfrom the conveyor so that gases and ashes rising therefrom duringstoking move outside of the path of the meat-carrying conveyor.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein there is an exhaust housingadjacent to the conveyor and receiving the respective charcoal-bumingcompartments as they are moved from their cooking position.

1. Apparatus for cooking meat which comprises an endless metallicconveyor carrying meat through successive adjacent stations one of whichis a charcoal cooking station, another of which is a microwave cookingstation, and another of which is an infrared cooking station. 2.Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein hot gases from the charcoalcooking station are conveyed to the microwave cooking station to flavorthe meat being cooked at that station.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 1wherein the charcoal section includes a number of separately movablecharcoal burning compartments that can be separately moved from theircooking position to a stoking position away from the conveyor so thatgases and ashes rising therefrom during stoking move outside of the pathof the meat-carrying conveyor.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 3 whereinthere is an exhaust housing adjacent to the conveyor and receiving therespective charcoal-burning compartments as they are moved from theircooking position.